


Keep Quiet

by Phoenix_of_Athena



Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Background Character Death, Because we still don't know oCiel's name, Chapter 134 (Kuroshitsuji), Ficlet, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, I just really like the idea of Vincent's work following him home, Melancholy, Mild Blood, POV First Person, Self-Indulgent, Survivor Guilt, The Phantomhive Twins, and oCiel having a better idea of the watchdog position
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-27
Updated: 2019-10-27
Packaged: 2021-01-13 17:22:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21186812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phoenix_of_Athena/pseuds/Phoenix_of_Athena
Summary: Two summers ago someone had tried to kill their father, and Vincent had made him promise: let others take the lead when there was danger; be smart and hide; don't get involved.So on oCiel's tenth birthday, he does just that.  When Ciel goes off alone, oCiel stays quiet.  He's careful.  He hides.  That's why the the intruders leave him behind.





	Keep Quiet

**Author's Note:**

> This is majorly self-indulgent. I just read chapter 134 again, and it was agitating me, so I started grumpily playing with what-ifs. Because seriously, oCiel is ridiculously ill-prepared for the reality of being the son of the Queen's Watchdog. And real Ciel might be better, but he's still incautious too.

Ciel had been gone for a while, and the house was strangely quiet.

Even on normal days, there was some sound: soft footsteps in the hall, Sebastian barking in the distance, the sound of people working in the garden. But right now there was nothing, and today was our birthday—there should have been the sound of cheery bustle in the halls.

But then, someone should have come for us earlier, too.

…and I never should have let Ciel go off alone. What if something bad had happened to him, and it was all my fault?

I watched the second hand tick slowly on the grandfather clock in our room.

How long should I wait before I did something? 

Two summers ago, when our carriage had been attacked on the way to the city, Father had told me to let others take the lead when there was danger. And it was because I was weak, I know that. But he’d also told Ciel not to get involved in things like that until he was older, and ten didn’t seem old enough to me. 

Perhaps I should go and look for him.

It was always Ciel’s job to look out for me. That was the way it had been since I got sick, but we’re the same age, really—and he’d been just as frightened as I was, when the man who'd stopped our carriage had pointed a gun at Father. He hadn’t been able to do anything either; he had only huddled beside me and watched Father and Tanaka kill those men. And he’d nodded just as seriously as I did, when Father had explained how dangerous it was to be the Queen’s Watchdog.

…so maybe I should do something, as long as I was careful. I was just as clever as Ciel, if not as capable. I knew the house better than any bad guys would, so I could sneak around. I didn’t have to get involved.

The clock struck seven, and I jolted. 

It had been a long time. If someone had been able to come for us, they would have. If Ciel had found out that it was safe, then he would have come back.

Maybe I should hide.

…But I couldn’t hide in here.

If someone knew enough to hurt our household…then they probably knew that Father had two sons. They might come looking for me.

And Ciel could be in danger. 

I remembered that gun, how it had been pointed straight at Father.

Ciel could be….

But it was better not to think about that. Instead I got to my feet and walked across the room.

My hand shook as I pulled open our bedroom door and peered out into the hall.

There was nothing. Just an empty corridor.

I stepped outside and crept silently along, checking around corners before I went anywhere. 

It was too quiet.

I was afraid.

A sound behind a closed door startled me: the sound of scratching. Someone was in there. I stepped closer, keeping quiet. There was a low, soft whine behind the door. _Sebastian._ I opened it.

He…was muzzled. Someone had taken the time to muzzle our dog. That meant that they hadn’t wanted him to alert anyone, right? Because dogs were noisy, and Sebastian was pushy and nosy. 

I undid the muzzle, and Sebastian tugged at me as I shoved at him, but eventually he let me go and dashed away. 

I could have followed him; maybe it would have been safer. But maybe it wouldn’t have been; he’d been barking up a racket. He’d been barking up a racket, and I shouldn’t stay here. He could have attracted attention.

I peered around the corner that the dog had pulled me away from, and—

…_I had known that there was something wrong._

I had _known_ it. And I had seen blood before, two summers ago when they’d tried to kill my father.

But.

I knew the woman lying there.

She’d smiled at me this morning.

I stumbled back, but didn’t make a sound; I had clamped my hands over my mouth.

…I needed to hide. Father had told me to hide in times like these. I _had _to hide. I couldn’t protect myself, oh god, I didn’t want to end up dead.

Was Father dead?

Was Ciel? Mother? Tanaka?

If someone was okay, they would have come for us. If Ciel was okay, then he would have come back.

I crept through the silent halls. At the slightest sound, I went the other way.

The dining hall had corpses in it, but it also had huge tables with long table clothes, and no one would expect me to hide right next to _bodies_. 

I crawled under the table and I stayed there. 

…I was the weak, cowardly son; the extra; the spare. They might have thought that I had run; that I would hide somewhere that was safe.

They didn’t find me.

I heard low voices, but no one found me.

I waited for a long time.

I waited for so long that I went stiff, with ears peeled and soft breaths shallow.

...I didn't even notice the fire at first. I smelled the smoke, but I didn't understand until I had to hold back coughs and my eyes began to water. 

The air was getting worse, and I knew I had to leave. I didn't want to.

The table cloth was heavy when I lifted it, and the smoke rushed in. I pulled my collar up over my mouth as I crawled forward.

When I was in the hallway, I found Tanaka.

He was alive.

They’d left him bleeding.

I tried to pull him across the floor, but he was so heavy, and the air was hot and thick.

The smoke was dark.

I couldn’t breathe.

I fell down next to him.

…Aunt Ann saved my life.

She found us in the entry hall, and pulled us both to safety. She made sure that I was breathing, and she bandaged Gramps’ wounds. 

They told me this later. I wasn’t conscious for it.

Apparently, I’d been in the hospital for weeks, and was delirious. I remember bits and pieces; I hadn’t been that sick for a long time.

But I was alive.

I was alive, and Aunt Ann was there to hold my hand, and climb into the hospital bed next to me. She hardly left my side.

I was alive.

But my family was gone.

Ciel was gone.

Tanaka told me much later that they took him, but that wasn't for years. He’d wanted shelter me, I think, and death might have seemed a kinder fate than what they’d steal a child for. That’s what he told me, anyway, while we were sitting together in the study of my town house. We both held cups of tea, and we were more equal in that moment then we'd ever been. It had been so long, and we both were feeling melancholy and sentimental. We talked about the good times, imagining what-ifs, and Tanaka had patted my hand and hugged me when he left.

The Queen’s Watchdog was no more; or if it wasn’t, no one told me. I was only the spare son, after all. The useless one. The one who ran and hid, and followed his father’s instructions. The one who’d let his brother go alone.

I never had any children of my own, but if I could have, I think I’d have named one after Ciel. He’d only ever wanted to protect me…but things never really worked out the way we thought they would.

I never imagined that I would be alone.

I never imagined that I would spend so much of my youth wondering what the dead would think of me.

But still, I was alive, wasn’t I? 

That has to count for something. 

**Author's Note:**

> ...Basically, I wrote this in one sitting just to get the idea out of my head...and ugh, writing in first-person is kind of agonizing. I'm not used to it at all, and I feel like I completely mucked it up....I don't think I've used this POV in about a decade.  
Mostly because of my weakness in writing first person POV, I'm not actually sure how I feel about this fic; I'm wasn't even sure about posting it, really. Maybe I'll come back and edit it. Maybe I'll delete it. *shrugs*
> 
> ...Well, I like the idea of it, so that'll have to be good enough. This fic was about the concept, not the writing.


End file.
